Garage vs MinIO
| Tagline | Lightweight S3-compatible distributed object storage for self-hosters | High-performance S3-compatible object storage (now archived/commercialized) |
| Category | File Storage & Sync | File Storage & Sync |
| Replaces | Dropbox, Google Drive, Box | Dropbox, Google Drive, Box |
| GitHub stars | 1.8k | 61k |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 2/5 Simple |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 4 months ago | 5 months ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Garage
- No built-in web UI for browsing files; relies on external S3 clients
- Lacks advanced IAM policies compared to AWS S3
- No built-in CDN or edge caching layer
MinIO
- Community open-source repo was archived in April 2026; development moved to the commercial AIStor product
- Object storage only — no end-user file sync clients, sharing UI, or document collaboration
- Recent releases stripped the admin web console features, pushing users toward paid offerings
- Requires building app layers on top to behave like Dropbox/Drive
Bottom line
Choose MinIO if you want the lower-effort setup; choose MinIO for the larger community and ecosystem. Garage has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.